In the following lessons, you will read and study the classic Shakespearian play Hamlet.
You will answer questions and learn about this Play’s key elements.
You will play game quizzes reviewing this play’s content.
You will complete a 3 minute timed quiz after each lesson.
Finally, you will complete a 30 minute timed quiz assessing your acquired learning for this course.
Play elements in a ‘nut-shell’…
Plot: the reckoning of a tormented Danish prince seeking revenge for the foul murder by his uncle of his late father and former king of Denmark
Setting: the trials and tribulations of the troubled Danish royal family during the late middle ages at Elsinore Castle
Themes: vengeance, procrastination, honor, betrayal, courage, the hereafter, kinship
Major Characters
Hamlet: the bitter, perceptive but indecisive son of the deceased king Old Hamlet and of Gertrude newly married to his uncle Claudius
Claudius: the conniving, immoral and dubious newly crowned king of Denmark; the object of a revengeful Prince Hamlet
Gertrude: Hamlet’s seemingly blissfully unaware and compliant mother, widow of Old King Hamlet and wife of her newly crowned brother-in-law king
Ophelia: the emotional, melancholic, affection-seeking daughter of Polonius, brother to Laertes and Hamlet’s former love
The Ghost: the restless and revenge seeking spirit of the recently murdered Old King Hamlet
Horatio: Prince Hamlet’s loyal and understanding friend ‘to the bitter end’
Polonius: Ophelia’s and Laertes’ bombastic self-assured but foolish father and advisor to Claudius whom Hamlet accidently kills
Laertes: the righteous but impulsive loving brother of Ophelia and devoted son of Polonius
Fortinbras: the crusading son of Norway’s Old King Fortinbras determined to regain his father’s lands and honor lost in battle to Denmark ‘s Old King Hamlet
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Hamlet’s estranged childhood friends and spies for Claudius
